AT&T customer billed for flooded equipment

BATON ROUGE - Some AT&T customers say they have received bills in the mail for their flooded equipment.

Becky Nissen's AT&T equipment was submerged in August. She got a bill in the mail Monday for $633.

"They should have some compassion, my son has had to start over with just what he could," she said.

Nissen says she gifted her son AT&T U-verse TV and she gets the bills. His trailer flooded in August, taking in more than a foot of water, which was enough to ruin everything. She called AT&T to cancel the service.

"It was about two weeks when it dawned on us that I needed to cancel," she said.

Nissen says she was told over the phone by an AT&T representative the equipment needed to be returned.

But there was no equipment. Everything in the flooded trailer was hauled off to the curb. Nissen tells News Two she was asked to retrieve the equipment and return it.

Frustrated, Nissen says she continued to call AT&T and was finally told some good news.

"I was told it was a national disaster, 'We will waive those fees,'" she said.

Weeks later on Monday, Nissen checked her mailbox and found a bill with a balance of $633. Not getting anywhere, Nissen posted her frustration on social media and contacted 2 On Your Side. The bill was resolved Tuesday.

AT&T says customers in affected areas should not be charged for equipment that is either nonreturnable or simply not in their possession as a result of the August flooding. If customers have been erroneously billed or feel they should not have been billed, AT&T says it encourages the customer to call the number listed on the bill and dispute the charges based on their location being in a declared disaster area.